Aside from wheels staying in one piece and the frame holding together, the thing we take most for granted when riding a bike is how our bodies instinctively respond to and absorb bumps. The human body is, in fact, an incredible shock-absorber; our arms and legs are capable of flexing and shifting in ways that no mechanical suspension is capable of and reacts at near-instantaneous speed to the intelligence streaming in from the ocular system. Remove the power of sight from the equation and the effect is staggering.
My first encounter with night riding was during a 24-hour mountainbike race in Minnesota. Until that race, I had taken care to always ride during the day, partly because I couldn’t afford a reasonable headlight and partly because I could always arrange my training to take place during daylight. A 24-hour race, however, held distinct implications for nighttime riding.
I never bothered practicing riding at night, and I didn’t bother with buying a proper headlamp. Instead, I recommissioned my semi-reliable headlight which I used for nordic ski training in the dark winter months. The week before had also seen the decommissioning of my first-generation Rock Shox which had always graced the front-end of my beloved Schwinn mountainbike, made of what I assume were sand-filled tubes. I didn’t maintain the shock the way a shock should be maintained, and with its death came the rebirth of the fixed fork that had originally steered the machine.
I don’t need to go into detail on the race, but suffice to say that my headlamp stopped functioning within minutes on the first nighttime lap and that I rode the remainder of the race by the light of the moon and my insufficient instincts. Climbing was unpleasant, flats were uncomfortable, and descents were a blend of suicide and anarchy. Each bump the front wheel found blew through my unprepared arms and cascaded through my body, usually focussed on the saddle which ungracefully found its way to my crotch whether I was sitting on it at the time or not.
With this induction into the dark art of night riding, it has been something I’ve typically done with some reluctance. In other words, I’ve avoided it like the plague. Living in Seattle and having the privilege of a fulltime job does have certain ramifications on riding in daylight hours in Winter; namely that it isn’t possible. With the introduction of a good headlight comes the surreal solidarity of riding cocooned in a cone of light. The shorted line of sight together with the elimination of one’s peripheral vision has an inexplicable calming effect despite the sense that you can’t properly judge the bumps in the road as your headlight briefly illuminates them, and that every puddle looks like a small lake whose depth cannot be judged until you’re on top of it.
I’ve ridden with a Mammut Zoom headlamp and a Lezyne Super Drive, both of which served the purpose of making nighttime riding slightly less terrifying. But with my new 45km commute, I moved to the Lezyne Mega Drive, which is basically a car headlight refactored to fit on a handlebar. I heard that the lights in small villages dim when I turn it to full power and I’ve noticed that deer come running towards it when I ride by with the mistaken belief that it signals the arrival of a deity.
Never one for half-measures, I still mount the Super Drive on the helmet and the Mega Drive on the bars; its like riding with the Eye of Sauron on your bike. Oh, and I have three different red flashers on the back of the bike and another white flasher on the front. You know, just in case.
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Totally second, or fifth or whatever on Ortlieb. Waterproof (from rain) is the entry level for Ortlieb - a lot of their stuff is immersible, which is really handy if you have to ford a river or enter a submarine at some point on your commute.
@mouse
Thats what she said.
I do think its critical to find a good way to minimize the load shifting. The panniers are great for that, the backpack can succeed with proper attention. These newer ones do a pretty good job of form fitting to the back contour.
@mouse
And i have no clue how you would do intervals with a courier bag, altho those bastards are cruelly fast.
Frank - nah, you were spot on with some things. If that outfit was functional for fly trappin' as well as totally bitchin', that's Awesome.
And 14 hour bike rides, well, that's tuff. And cool.
@gaswepass Ditto. 5-6 days a week. Like @Mouse I usually find an excuse to stop in on the weekend with fresh clothes. Messenger bag if I have shopping/errands too big for pockets. The SealLine stuff outta Seattle is pretty damn watertight.
@gaswepass A proper messenger bag rides up high on your back, not down on your hips, so it's like a backpack without straps in your pits. Extra strap around your waist keeps it from shifting. Riding fixed all day for short distances makes you fast in a stoplight sprint but your knees pay for it eventually.
@Velosophe "This is similar to the approach the Army takes with rucksacks. They have a water-resistant coating on the fabric, but everything is packed inside "wet weather bags" inside the ruck when wet weather is a possibility."
And the waterproof bag in your Bergen doubles as a floatation aid on river crossings in jungles!
In fact the British Army don't generally bother with special purpose waterproof bags, we just used to use a couple of black binliners and all stayed dry as toast!
@frank years of carrying stuff on my back has me always looking for the lightest and smallest pack for what I carry. Too small for the job makes it packed hard and high so I have two back packs and one messenger type - 3 different sizes. All are thin but durable and when it's wet I line them with plastic, which may not work for you if it's wet every day.
When I did the daily commute I found that leaving as much stuff at work was the way to go, especially shoes and bulky clothes.
I remember years ago realizing that my riding style had to smooth out with stuff on my back and ironically I think when I later started getting serious about riding/racing it helped me ride like butter.
@frank Chrome messenger bag (Citizen, I think...) here for 3 or 4 years of commuting in Ohio. I've tried backpacks w/chest straps for stabilization, but I've always ended up coming back to the messenger back for stability and comfort.
Laptop, notebook, underwear, socks, pants, shirt(s), lunch, raincoat for the Ohio wet, wallet, power adapters and toolkit all packed into the bag. My stuff has stayed dry in the heaviest of rains.
For me, it's a proper pack, then the proper strap tightness (both the main and the stabilizer strap) that makes the difference. As long as I have those two variables correct, the bag doesn't move whether I'm in or out of the saddle or whether I'm stopped at light or going full-bore.
@pistard mentioned it, as well"”messenger bags sit the weight high on your back (think between your shoulder blades) and don't constrict breathing. Somewhat counterintuitively, they seems to distribute weight better than a backpack even though there's only one strap.
I've found the North Face Recon perfect for my commuting needs. Remarkably waterproof and if it's really wet I put 'sensitive' items in a plastic bag and everything stays dry. Mind you, fenders help, especially with the bottom of the pack. Yesterday I wrote sans fenders on a 2 1/4 hr rainy ride and remembered why I love them.